Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1487488
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 6, 2022 P103 S TANDOUT FEATURE Where do you start? It's packed with two-wheel gossip and tales, all in quick five minute reads. READER AN ALYSIS I have an enormous respect for Mat Oxley. The man has produced (in my opinion) an exceedingly large portion of the best English-language litera- ture on motorcycle racing I admire for the past couple of decades—when I really started paying attention to the stuff. He has a back catalog of stories and interviews any writer would give their left arm to have. It has been cultivated through decades of dedication to the craft of getting some of the often shyest, introverted and downright obtuse people to start revealing themselves, to let us all know how they really tick. brilliant quote from 23-time Isle of Man TT winner and the man with the biggest teeth in racing, John McGuinness. I've been down Bray Hill in a TT. It's terribly frightening. I don't think the dentist is that bad. One of the things I love about the book is the cover. Strange to say, I know, but the cover was created by Mat literally cutting out magazine pic- tures and pasting them onto a board to make a collage, just like a kid with a scrapbook did back in the day. No computers here. None needed. Winners Sinners Grinners: More top tales from MotoGP, the TT and beyond will be a worthy addition to any bike-racing lover's library, and while you're on the site, you can check out the other two books in this collec- tion in The Fast Stuff and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Racing. Rennie Scaysbrook •EXCEPTIONAL HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE FROM THE WRITER •FUNNY LITTLE SIDE STORIES LITTERED THROUGHOUT THE BOOK •IT'S THOROUGHLY DISTRACTING, SO KEEP IT OUT OF YOUR OFFICE SPACE! •VERY LITTLE, ALTHOUGH I'D HAVE LOVED PHOTOS FOR EACH STORY, BUT SOMETIMES EACH PIECE IS SO ODD- BALL THAT THIS SIMPLY ISN'T POSSIBLE •EXCEPTIONAL HISTORICAL •VERY LITTLE, ALTHOUGH I'D HAVE A former pro-level racer who has competed in many an Endurance World Championship event and raced and won at the Isle of Man TT, Mat's written take on racing is therefore unique. He's as no-bullshit as you can get, leaving emotion for the most part out of his interviews which allows the rider or engineer, fan, desk clerk or whomever he's interviewing to really open up, which is a tremendous skill to have. For all those reasons and, especially, as the 80 individual stories don't take long to read at all, Winners Sinners Grinners: More top tales from MotoGP, the TT and beyond is a book I found annoyingly hard to put down. There are so many brilliant quotes littered throughout the book, as is often the case with top-level motor- cycle racers. "I destroyed the bike, then got up and bowed to the crowd. Frank wasn't happy. They gave me the remains of the bike as a lampstand," says British racing ironman Dave Croxford. Or, "I'd sooner go down Bray Hill than go to the dentist," a SINNERS GRINNERS: MORE MOTOGP, THE TT AND BEYOND know how they really tick. happy. They gave me the remains of the bike as a lampstand," says British racing ironman Dave Croxford. Or, "I'd sooner go down Bray Hill than go to the dentist," a LOWDOWN List Price: $36.00 Website: matoxley.bigcartel.com Oxley gets his subjects to divulge everything from the secrets of riding a motorcycle on the ragged edge, to dissing the odd rival and remembering a legendary race.